Mounting for sound-boxes.



H. SHEBLE L P. L. CAPES.

MOUNTING FOR SOUND BOXES.

APPLIGATION FILED 001217. 1912.

1,132.98?. Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HORACE SBIEBLE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AND FRANK L. CAPPS, OF

IBRIDGEPOBT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNORS TO AMERICAN GRAPHOPHONE COM- PANY, F BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION 0F WEST VIRGINIA.

MOUNTING non som-BOXES.

Specieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1e, 1915.

Application led October 17, 1912. Serial No. 726,253.'

T0 all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HORACE SHEBIE and v`FRANK L. CArrs, citizens of the United spectively, have invented a new and useful -Improvement in Mounting for Sound-Boxes,`

which invention is fully set forth vin the following specification.A

This invention relates to graphophones or other talking-machines, particularly .of the type employed for reproducingdisk soundrecords. Suchinstruments are commonly equipped with a so-called tone-arm (a hollow arm swiveled to communicate with box with its diaphragm and stylus) Heretofore, such tone-arms have been mounted not only for horizontal swing butalso to permit vertical swing, or there has'been a joint in the tone-arm to permit the vertical swing. In such constructions, the weight of the sound-box or' of the (entire) tonearm bears upon the needle-point and forces it down upon the surface of the record-disk.

Moreover, the mechanical construction of such joints or mountmgs for .the tone-arm.

are more or less complicated and unsatisfactory, and the pressure which the dead weight imposes upon the needle-point has been foundto wear out the record-groove I unduly, thus destroying the life of the latter.

One object of the present invention 1s to provide an improved manner of mounting thevpivoted end of the tone-arm, which shall be' slmple and reliable in construction, and which permits thel tone-arm to swing A substantially horizontal plane only, thus holding the dead weight away from the record-surface (but necessitating theprovision of additional means for imparting the proper pressure to force the stylus against the record-groove),

' A second object ofthe present' invention is to provide suitable means 0fimproved character for thus holding the stylus in proper yielding contact with the Ysoundrecord, while permitting the sound-box to be inK -aadjusted for substitution of needlesf and also for compensating automatically for irregularities in the surface of the turntable or in the thickness of the record-disk itself. The invention further comprises vthe various features of construction and arrangement hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

Although the invention may be embodied in 'A various forms, it will be best understood by reference to the annexed drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side View, partly in vertical section, of one embodiment of the invention; and 2 is a plan ofthe same; Fig. 3, on a larger scale, is a horizontal section through the line III-III of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the line IV-IV of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a similar View through the line V--V of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of a`detail; and Fig. 7 is a view, in vertical section, of a simple manner of mounting the pivoted end of the tone-arm.

In these drawings, 1 is the thimble or stationary ring, adapted to be secured upon or adjacent to the base-plate of the talking machine, and communicating with the stationary sound-conveyer or horn (not shown). The upper end of this thimble is eXteriorly screw-threaded, at 2.

3 is the substantially horizontal tone-arm, whose down-turned larger end is eXteriorl screw-threaded A at 4, but in the opposite d1- rection to the screw-threads 2.

5 is a knurled coupling-ring fitting the adjacent ends of the two members and having the two sets of interior screw-threads engaging the threads 2 and 4 respectively. If desired, a set-screw Gomay pass through the ring to hold it stationary upon either member, as 1. A

Any suitable sound-box (such as that of Patent No. 1,014,240)` is carried at the free outer end of the tone-arm, so as to swing only in a horizontal plane. The sound-box,- therefore, should have some vmeans for holding its stylus in suitable `engagement with the-record, land for automatically compensating for irregularities in the plane sursecured at one -end .to they inner endof the' set-screw 13, and at its other en'd to the inthe particular record-disk employed; and it should also have means for permitting .a reproducing-stylus to bel substituted.

. A preferred construction fonthis purpose is illustrated in Figs. 3-6, illustratingan arrangement in which the sound-box is 'detach-y ably secured to a' cup that is journaledin 4theouter .end of thev tone-armrand acted' upon VAby spring-pressure'to force the stylus 10 lnto4 proper contact with thev record-disk.

More specilically, an enlargement 8 is-pre1@ vided at the outer en'd of the tonear1n,and. "in this is 4secured a spider 9, having a centralbearing, in which is journaled the'rod therein, but a set-screw 13 .passes throug the enlargement 8 into'anelongated slot in the cup, to limit the rotationof the latter. An outer `cup 14 is secured to the cup 12, .just beyond the end of the enlargement 8. A C- spring 15, vlocated within the'innercup l12,

terior wall ofthe cu'p 12, as by a screw 16.

rlhe tension of this springtends toI rotate arrow in Fig. 4 (counter-clockwise), but the amount of rotation is limited by the shoulder net-joint connection between the sound-box 17 of the slot abutting against the set-4 screw 13.

The sound-box 7 has at its rear the tube provided with the bayonet-joint groove consisting of the longitudinal ortion 18 and the circumferentially-extendlng portion 19, the latter terminating in a counter-sunk seat 20. A spring-pressed plunger 21 passes through the walls of the cups 14 and 12, and its tapered end is adapted to engage the bayonet-groove of the sound-box, being forced downward into engagement therewith by means of the C-spring 24, located in the annular space between the two cups .12 and 14. A shield v22, lying at a' diagonal to the tangent, is carried by enlargement 8 and extends over the head of plunger 21. This particular bayonet-joint and spring-plunger arrangement is' found in lthe pending application, S. N. 505,459, and in itself is not our present invention, which, however, comprises the use of such spring-plunger bayoand a cup. having limited axial reciprocation within the end of the tone-arm.

The operation ofthe device isobvious. The detachable sound-box is readily mounted or removed: to mount it, the longitudinal groove 18 is made to engage the t1p of the plunger 21 and `forced home, and turned counter-clockwise until the plunger engages the counter-sunk se'at 2Q;-.and to remove 1t, the reverse operation is performed. When andthe yielding-pressure of-'the` Cl'spring -15 l `ig. 4).-.l1olds it in .proper relatiorrto -the sound-boxis in. position, the stylus will occupy the position Sindicated inl4`1g. 5;`

spring 15,v until the rear shoulder'ofv the slot :(of the cup 112) engages 'the set screw V13,

after which the sound-box turns within the cup .until the plunger 21 'is in line with 'the l -longitudinal .groove 18 of the bayonet-joint.

In this position, the sound-box can bedrawn out and, removed, or a freshneedle can be substituted without removing the soundeboX. In short, instead `of securing the sound-box directly to the en d ofthe tonefarm, there-is -anfinterposed member which hasa limited.

spring-pressed axial play inthe-tone-arm,

land thesound-boX is detachably secured to this member.

.We have thus described ourY invention -v with some-particularity of detail, but only for the sake of clearness, since parts of our the cup 12 in the direction .indicated by the" invention may be used to the exclusion of other parts, and modifications of construc- *broadly the simple mounting of the tonearm at its stationary end so that it will have only horizontal play and will not impart its weight upon the stylus, and the provision of means for automatically adjusting the verti cal position of the stylus-point and also for vpermitting change of needles, without having to provide a separate joint in the airpass'age for that purpose.v

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. As an article of manufacture, the herean eXteriorly-threaded rlng or thimble, a tone-arm havingexterior screw-threads running in the opposite direction, a -ring having two sets of interior screw-threads for engaging the two screw-threads aforesaid, a sound-boX and its stylus supported by the other end of said tone-arm, and means for holding said stylus yieldingly in proper relation to the record-disk.'

2. In a talking-machine, the combination with a tone-arm mounted to swing in a horizontal plane only, of a spider secured in the end of said tone-arm, a cup fast upon a rod journaledin said spider, a spring to force said cup axially in one direction, means to in described sound-conveyer, consisting of limit the amount of such rotation, vand a specification in the presence of two subscribsound-box detachably secured to said cup. ing witnesses.

` 3. In a talking-machine, the combination HORACE SHEBLE with a screw-threaded 'ring secured adjacentl FRANK L. CAPES.'

5 the sound-conveyei1 or horn, a hollow arm for carrying the sound-box and having its Witnesses for Sheble:

opposite end screw-threaded, and a cou- C. A. L. MAssIE, pling-ring uniting the two members afore- RALPH L. SCOTT. said by means of screw-threads engaging Witnesses'for Capps:

l0 the two screw-threads aforesaid. VICTOR H. EMERSON,

In testimony whereof we have signed this W. E. LYLE. 

